Diversity for Protein and Morpho-Agronomical Characteristics in Proso Millet Germplasm Collections of Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Proso millet is known to occur under cultivation in India since its likely introduction from Near East around 3000 years ago. Eighteen diverse accessions of proso millet germplasm varying in morphoagronomic traits were observed. The study revealed high CV with regards to sheath length of flag leaf (24.4%) followed by nodes/primary axis of inflorescence (22.6%) and inflorescence length (20.3%). Moderate variation was recorded for number of effective tillers per plant (19.6%), plant height (18.9%) and flag leaf length (18.5%) respectively. DIVA-GIS grid maps generated for the germplasm accessions indicated that high variability (Coefficient of variation) for protein content, inflorescence length and days to maturity found in proso millet germplasm collected from the Southern region of Ratnagiri district. Correlation studies on the quantitative traits indicate a positive association of plant height, number of effective tillers, inflorescence length, nodes per primary axis and 1000-seed weight with seed protein content while flag leaf length, sheath length and days to maturity have negative correlation. IC344212, a proso millet accession collected from Harchali Dhangarwada village possessed highest protein content of 16.6%.